Child’s Play

Child’s pose or Balasana (or Shashankasana/Hare Pose as it is sometimes known); I’ve been finding myself here a lot over the last few days. It seems the most comfortable place to be as my sacro-iliac joint continues to play up. Lying here in Child’s Pose my lower back stretches and releases, my hips open and my spine feels long and straight.

Child’s Pose has always felt good for me, natural. But it isn’t for everyone. Lots of people need padding under their heads, under their butts. Some people find it hard to release tension here and really, without tension release it’s not doing a whole heap of good. People with high blood pressure or herniated discs need to be careful with this posture. For some it might need to flipped over so it looks like this instead.

Child’s pose stretches the back muscles and separates the individual vertebrae from each other and thus helps to alleviate all types of back ache. It is also good for the pelvic floor muscles, the reproductive organs and, apparently, helps to alleviate anger. So next time I’m angry at a slow customer in the supermarket queue I shall get down on the floor in Child’s pose then…. 😉